英文原著学习打卡—History of the English-Speaking Peoples

2023-03-31 17:20 作者:Prannt 0人读过 | 我要投稿

注：本文仅选取原著的重要段落进行讲解和整理，全文将在文末以图片方形式。需要《History of the English-Speaking Peoples》或者《经济学人》英文版的请一键三连哦，后台踢一下私发~

英语民族史 I Preface

原文

①If there was need for it before, that has certainly not passed away.For the second time in the present century the British Empire and the United States have stood together facing the perils of war on the largest scale known among men, and since ②the cannons ceased to fire and the bombs to burst we have become more conscious of our common duty to the human race. Language, law, and the ③processes by which we have come into being already afforded a unique foundation for drawing together and portraying a concerted task. I thought when I began that such a unity might well notably influence the destiny of the world. Certainly I do not feel that the need for this has diminished in any way in the twenty years that have passed.

解读

①本句是万能模板，译为“如果说 ... （在当时）是应运而生的话，当然现在也并不过时。”

②本句直译为：大炮停止射击，炸弹停止爆炸。可意译为：战火硝烟平息。

③本句直译为：我们成为人的过程。可意译为：民族历程（因为本书针对英语民族，而非全体人类）。

重点单词及词组

peril /'perəl/：n.巨大的危险，危难；危险，问题 v.使有危险，使临险境，危及

be conscious of ...：意识到……

portray /pɔːˈtreɪ/：v.描绘，描写；描述，刻画；（在电影、戏剧等中）扮演

concerted /kənˈsɜːtɪd/：adj.共同筹划的，一致的；尽力的，竭力的；

notably：adv.明显地，显著地；尤其，特别

diminish /dɪˈmɪnɪʃ/：v.减弱，降低，减少；贬低，轻视

原文

①On the contrary, the theme of the work has grown in strength and reality and human thought is broadened. Vast numbers of people on both sides of the Atlantic and throughout the British Commonwealth of Nations have felt a sense of brotherhood. ②A new generation is at hand. Many practical steps have been taken which carry us far. Thinking primarily of the English-speaking peoples in no way implies any sense of restriction. It does not mean canalising the development of world affairs, nor does it prevent the erection of structures like United Europe or other similar groupings which may all find their place in the world organisation we have set on foot. It rather helps to invest them with life and truth. ③There is a growing feeling that the English-speaking peoples might point a finger showing the way if things went right, and could of course defend themselves, so far as any of us have the power, if things went wrong.

解读

①这个词组本身很简单，但如果出现在句首，就要注意了！On the contray和Instead的用法相似，出现在这两个词的前后文表相同的语义逻辑。我们可以翻译一下这句话的前文：“虽然二十年时光一晃而过，我对此（团结一致可能会极大影响整个世界的命运）却仍深信不疑”；后文：“团结之诣变得更加现实和深入人心，人类的思维也开阔起来”。在大的感情色彩上。两者是一致的。所以千万别把On the contray、Instead和Instead of搞混了，多加一个of才是表相反的逻辑。

②翻译为：一个崭新的时代就在眼前。这样比较好听。

③长难句。that引导的定语从句（一直到结尾）修饰先行词feeling，在定语从句中继续使用分词+并列+插入语，先将不必要的成分都去掉，就变成了：There is a growing feeling that the English-speaking peoples might point a finger if things went right, and could defend themselves if things went wrong. 这样是不是就清晰多了呢？最后在加上修饰，翻译为：人们也许能够越来越深地感受到，英语民族能够引导真理之路，即便身处逆境，只要一息尚在，便定要捍卫自己不受侵害。

重点单词及词组

human thought：人类思维

vast numbers of：可代替many等低端词汇，再积累一个表示“许多”的高端词汇：sheer volumes of。

commonwealth：n.国家，独立的政治共同体（尤指民主共和国）原文中出现的the British Commonwealth of Nations = the Commonwealth，特指“英联邦”。

in no way：决不。置于句首时注意部分倒装。

canalise：v.主导；引导

world affairs：世界潮流

the erection of structures：组建。

set on foot：着手。

原文

Our story centres in an island, not widely sundered from the Continent, and so tilted that its mountains lie all to the west and north, while south and east is a gently undulating landscape of wooded valleys, open downs, and slow rivers. It is very accessible to the invader, whether he comes in peace or war, as pirate or merchant, conqueror or missionary. Those who dwelt there are not insensitive to any shift of power, any change of faith, or even fashion, on the mainland, but they give to every practice, every doctrine that comes to it from abroad, its own peculiar turn and imprint. A province of the Roman Empire, cut off and left to sink or swim in the great convulsion of the Dark Ages; reunited to Christendom, and almost torn away from it once more by the heathen Dane; victorious, united, but exhausted, yielding, almost without resistance, to the Norman Conqueror; submerged, it might seem, within the august framework of Catholic feudalism, was yet capable of reappearing with an individuality of its own. Neither its civilisation nor speech is quite Latin nor quite Germanic. It possesses a body of custom which, whatever its ultimate sources may be—folkright brought from beyond the seas by Danes, and by Saxons before them, maxims of civil jurisprudence culled from Roman codes—is being welded into one Common Law. This is England in the thirteenth century, the century of Magna Carta, and of the first Parliament.

重点单词及词组

sunder from：与 ... 分离；与 ... 切断

undulating /ˈʌndjuleɪtɪŋ/ ：adj.波状的；波浪起伏的

merchant：n.商人

missionary：n.传教士

积累宗教相关的单词：missionary（n.传教士）；heathen（n.异教徒）；pilgrim（n.朝圣者）；rite（n.宗教仪式）；primacy（n.大主教的职位）；minister（n.牧师）；pilgrimage（n.朝圣者的旅程）；bishop（n.主教）；primacy（n.大主教职位）；abbot（n.修道院院长）；rite（n.宗教仪式）

doctrine /ˈdɒktrɪn/：n.教义，主义，信条

peculiar：adj.独特的

imprint：n. 印记

sink or swim：沉浮

feudalism：封建主义

body of custom：习俗框架

folkright：民权

weld into：融入

Magna Carta：《大宪章》的官方表述

原文

Suddenly the mist clears. For a moment the Island stands in the full light of historic day. In itself the invasion of Britain by Julius Cæsar was an episode that had no sequel; but it showed that the power of Rome and the civilisation of the Mediterranean world were not necessarily bounded by the Atlantic coast. Cæsar’s landing at Deal bridged the chasm which nature had cloven. For a century, while the Roman world was tearing itself to pieces in civil war, or slowly recovering under a new Imperial form, Britain remained uneasily poised between isolation and union with the Continent, but absorbing, by way of trade and peaceful intercourse, something of the common culture of the West. In the end Rome gave the word and the legions sailed. For nearly four hundred years Britain became a Roman province. This considerable period was characterised for a great part of the time by that profound tranquillity which leaves little for history to record. It stands forth sedate, luminous, and calm. And what remained? Noble roads, sometimes overgrown with woodland; the stupendous work of the Roman Wall, breached and crumbling; fortresses, market towns, country houses, whose very ruins the next comers contemplated with awe. But of Roman speech, Roman law, Roman institutions, hardly a vestige. Yet we should be mistaken if we therefore supposed that the Roman occupation could be dismissed as an incident without consequence. It had given time for the Christian faith to plant itself. ①Far in the West, though severed from the world by the broad flood of barbarism, there remained, sorely beset, but defended by its mountains, a tiny Christian realm.

解读

①本句的分句很多，去掉不重要的分句后，核心部分为：there remained a tiny Christian realm. 翻译：在遥远的西方，因野蛮人入侵而与世隔绝的土地，一个极小的基督教王国，虽然身单力薄，但得益于群山屏障，终究得以留存。far in the west还有一种更具逼格的表达：as far as west goes（参考权力的游戏）.

重点单词及词组

sequel /ˈsiːkwəl/：n.续篇，续集；后果，结局

Mediterranean /ˌmedɪtəˈreɪniən/：adj.地中海的；（肤色）浅黑的 n.地中海（the Mediterranean）

bridged the chasm：弥合了 ... 的鸿沟

cloven：cleave的过去分词，劈开

tear itself to pieces：把 ... 自己撕碎

Imperial form：帝国形态

give the word：保证。 = you have my word（电影里的台词）

be characterised for：以 ... 为特征

tranquillity：宁静

总结有关“宁静”的单词：tranquility；sedate；calm

stupendous /stjuːˈpendəs/：adj.惊人的；巨大的

contemplate with awe：敬畏地凝视

vestige：n.遗迹；残余

dismiss：v.开除，解雇；不考虑，不理会；驳回，停止受理；让……离开，解散

原文

Nor was this all, because the English people now have an institution which overrode all local distinctions of speech, or custom, or even sovereignty. Whatever dynastic quarrels might go on between the kingdoms, the Church was one and indivisible: its rites are everywhere the same, its ministers are sacred. The Kingdom of Kent may lose its ancient primacy, Northumbria make way for Mercia; but Canterbury and York remain. ①The contrast is startling between the secular annals of these generations, with their meagre and tedious records of forays and slaughter, and the brilliant achievements of the English Church. The greatest scholar in Christendom was a Northumbrian monk. The most popular stylist was a West Saxon abbot. The Apostle of Germany was Boniface from Devon. The revival of learning in the Empire of Charlemagne was directed by Alcuin of York.

解读

①... 和 ... 形成了鲜明的对比

重点单词及词组

override：v. 超越；比 ... 重要

sovereignty /ˈsɒvrənti/：n.主权，最高统治权，最高权威；独立自主；主权国家，自治州

总结有关“君主”的单词：sovereign（n.君主）；sovereignty（n.国家的主权）；monarchy（君主统治；君主制度）；commonalty（平民；大众）；magnate（富豪；权贵）；dynastic（adj.王朝的；朝代的）

secular annals：世俗的记录

meagre and tedious：两个单词的意思相近，可以连一起组成这个词组。表示“单调乏味的”

stylist：文体学家

原文

In other words, personal government, with all its latent possibilities of oppression and caprice, is not to be endured. But it is not easy to prevent. The King is strong, far stronger than any great lord, and stronger than most combinations of great lords. ①If the Crown is to be kept within its due limits some broader basis of resistance must be found than the ancient privileges of the nobility. About this time, in the middle of the thirteenth century, we begin to have a new word, Parliament. It bears a very vague meaning, and some of those who first used it would have been startled if they could have foreseen what it would some day come to signify. But gradually the idea spreads that if it is not enough for the King to “talk things over” with his own Council; so, on the other hand, it is not enough for the barons to insist solely on their right to be considered the Council of the kingdom. Though they often claim to speak for the community of the realm, in fact they only represent themselves, and the King after all represents the whole people. Then why not call in the lesser gentry and the burgesses? They are always used in local matters. Why not use them in national concerns? Bring them up to Westminster, two gentlemen from every shire, two tradesmen from every borough. What exactly they are to do when they get there no one quite knows. Perhaps to listen while their betters speak; to let them know what the grievances of the country are; to talk things over with one another behind the scenes; to learn what the king’s intentions are in Scotland and France, and to pay the more cheerfully for knowing. It is a very delicate plant, this Parliament. There is nothing inevitable about its growth, and it might have been dropped as an experiment not worth going on with. But it took root. In two or three generations a prudent statesman would no more think of governing England without a Parliament than without a king. What its actual powers are it would be very hard to say. Broadly, its consent is necessary to give legal sanction to any substantial act of authority: an important change of ancient custom can only be effected by Act of Parliament; a new tax can only be levied with the approval of the Commons. What more it can do the unfolding of time will show. But its authority is stabilised by a series of accidents. Edward III needed money for his French wars. Henry IV needed support for his seizure of the crown. And in the Wars of the Roses both the contending parties wanted some sort of public sanction for their actions, which only Parliament could provide.